While hiking, I had the most beautiful, open conversation with Claudio, both of us struggling to converse in the other’s native tongues, but nevertheless trying our best. Between my broken Italian, his (fabulous imo) English, and both our expressive gestures, we talked about politics, life, future goals, and the environment. To this day I can’t quite remember every word that passed between us, but I can remember the fulfilling, entirely uplifting weight in my heart and soul. It was unlike any conversation I ever had, and probably will ever have. There was no way to try and bullshit each other; we didn’t have the ability to even try.

What I do also remember, though again more the feeling then the physical words, was learning about a site of ruins we came across on our hike. Hearing Claudio speak so deeply about the history of these hills, a place where he grew up as a young boy and later worked to bring supplies to other likeminded people, was an experience in and of itself.

This afternoon was a perfect day for walking around the neighborhood and photographing the flowering trees. After weeks of snow and rain, it was lovely to finally see the sun and beautiful workings of spring.

I took Louie around, both for a good walk, and to snap pictures of the trees. We're about to start a seven-day rain stretch so I knew I wanted to get out quick. I'm absolutely in love with how fast everything has grown and greened and bloomed.

Out here in the Midwest, we've been staring at the rest of the country with envious eyes. (Well, maybe not the entire country—looking at you Northeast.) As friends and family posted photos of their beautifully blooming trees and flowers, we continued to watch the snow fall, inch by inch. We took bets on whether or not we'd get a spring and prayed that Mother Nature wouldn't take a violent leap into summer. The weather gods were kind; we've had a blissful last few weeks with high 70s for temps. With a lightning storm earlier this week, it seems as if everything just exploded with life. Birds, trees, flowers... they're all here and ready to party.

We've embarked on our summer road trip and as of today, have been through four states, about to hit our fifth. We started in Wisconsin; hit a bit of traffic in Chicago, Illinois; saw Lake Erie from Indiana; and finally settled in Cleveland, Ohio. Before we started I didn't hold very high standards for Ohio (I'm sorry Ohioans!!). I just kept picturing long stretches of corn fields like we have in Wisconsin; I wasn't ready for beautiful and wild forests and a skyline reaching to the sky.

The first place we stayed was Avon, Ohio and I felt like this town was putting on a show to make us want to stay forever. We drove past our hotel to explore a little bit and were greeted with a gorgeous sunset over the lake complete with a family of deer strolling through the neighborhood.

We also spotted a gorgeous sunflower field which I vowed to come back at sunrise. Setting my alarm for 6:45 I came back and only a handful of us waited for the sun to rise. You could hear people gasp as the first light hit the fields. I'd like to take a quick moment to point out the amazing and heartbreaking story behind this field.

Today was the first Sunday off in little while that I wasn't working so of course, I spent most of it lazing around, reading, watching a bit of La Traviata and then, finally, taking Parker for a walk. The sun was gorgeous, unlike yesterday where it rained most of the afternoon, so I thought a quick walk around Palmer Park would be fun. It was beautiful and the sunlight lit up the remaining summer flowers perfectly.

There is an expansive sunflower field up in Madison and, due to scheduling, I never was able to make it up. However, I was so happy to see these little patches of sunflower-ish lovelies around the walking path.